Janissary Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 What are your thoughts on the best color and material for photographing finished builds? I am about to do that on my latest SEA camo F-4E. I have been using variations of gray fabric (here is an example, and another one) but I am now considering pure white. What are your thoughts? I think shooting quality photos with a white background is a little tricky but doable. Back in the day, I liked blue / light blue (think FSM), but like many other things in our hobby, I feel it's not 'in' anymore, and I don't find blue or green backdrops particularly suitable. I experimented with black backdrops for a while too, but did not like it that much. So what say you? My options are gray fabrics (like my examples), gray paper, or pure white (fabric, paper or plastic sheet). I am open to other lighter tones of gray gradually approaching white. Just wanted to hear your opinions to see if there is something I have not considered. White sounds appealing but I usually end up with burnt out regions in the photos (no HDR for me). FYI, I will be using a Canon A620, several light sources and diffusers, a tripod, timer, but no HDR. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jinmmydel Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 I much prefer white myself. Though, a lot of that has to do with my high key portrait photography side. I do think the right light blue can work better for people who are struggling with white. Usually the problem with white is a combination of not enough lighting, and a poor understanding of and reliance on built in camera metering. If you have access to a decent editing program and you're using RAW you'll have no problems since you can tweek. However, I don't think (not sure I don't know anything about Canon point and shoots) that you can shoot in RAW, so you're biggest obstacle will be getting proper exposure. A bunch of continuous bulbs can look like it's a lot of light, but it really isn't, so you'll need long exposures. I have to use white for publication purposes which is what the magazines are all going for these days, but I have been tempted to try blue. I shoot on a piece of white tile board (available from Home Depot)that transitions into super white Savage Seamless backdrop paper (this is for portrait photography and comes in 8 foot long rolls, so isn't practical, but poster-board can work equally well). I also use two speed lights which means I can hand shoot these at 1/200th shutter speed while most folks with continuous lighting are doing way long exposures. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Thank you yes, I ended up using a white backdrop. Your pic looks very good, the model is nicely lit. I like the reflection from the tile also. Of note, the tile seems to blend perfectly with the back drop. Thank you for your input. Do you have a pic of your light setup? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
a4s4eva Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 White is my preference. I'd love to see others photos setups though Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.